Dec 13, 2017 Once “Walk on Water” ends, the album treads in a quasi-trap arena. The beat to “Believe” is ridiculous and the lyrics are on point: “Grew up on WIC with a short fuse.” “Chloraseptic” is also insane. This song was originally rumored to have Tech N9ne and 2 Chainz on it, which is easy to envision considering the beat. It would have also been preferable as Eminem begins dropping bad punchlines and falling off-beat. The Schooly D line was pretty great, though. Joe Budden called “Untouchable” the worst song he’s ever heard which is only because he hasn’t heard “Remind Me” yet. Both songs include classic rock samples, which were the worst part of MMLP2. I was excited to see Ed Sheeran featured on this album, but even he cannot save this song. Eminem brings some of his worst lines to date to this song, referencing ex-lax and finding a Gwen Stacy to “spite a man.” The song concludes with a fairly serious discussion of a woman getting an abortion which is a complete 180 thematically. The song is a mess. “Revival” is a promising interlude, but unfortunately the beat is not used for the following “Like Home” song. Many speculated if he’d have a Donald Trump song but no one predicted it would be the Alicia Keys feature. That alone kills its radio playability. “Bad Husband” is a ballsy track as he admits to hitting Kim. X Ambassadors were a surprisingly good choice too. The enjoyment of that track is quickly lost with “Tragic Endings” which is mixed very poorly. The excellent melody is completely drowned out by the drums, the lyrics are incredibly generic and the delivery lacks passion. This song is especially disappointing considering how good “k--- for You” was on Skylar’s album. The album picks back up with “Framed.” It’s a weird mesh of Relapse with a late 80’s vibe. There is no substance to the song whatsoever but it’s original, enjoyable and the Steven Avery line made me laugh. “Nowhere Fast” is also great. Great hook, great beat that builds and it has real radio potential. The bridge is choppy and unnecessary, but overall it has a lot of replayability. The album takes another bad turn with “Heat,” another Rick Rubin produced tragedy. Eminem’s writing doesn’t make it any better either and actually drops the line “you got buns, I got aspergers.” It only gets worse with “Offended” which is everything Eminem has been criticized by his fans for in the last decade. The chorus includes the line “I’m never letting up until everybody eats my turds.” He even yells “sodomy” as an adlib in the background at one point. Also, I swear the “Ray Rice when he Face Times” section is one long Big Sean impression Eminem doesn’t do anything for the first two minutes of “Need Me” except backing vocals, and to be honest, it’s a welcome break after the dogshit of the two previous songs. Vocals are mixed too low, not that they’re doing anything for the song. It actually sounds like Pink featuring Eminem, and her performance is great. One of the few times I’ll support the decision to give Skylar’s writing to someone else. “In Your Head” samples The Cranberries, which I hate. It sounds like something a 20 year old would put on a mixtape. The album finishes strong. “Castle” is good. I honestly would have like to hear this one expanded more. I could have listened to him go on for 8 minutes just talking to Hailie over the years up to the present. By “Arose” I was on the verge of tears right before he ends the album with a surprise twist. Overall: The songs I expected to be “poppy” ended up being wasted features. There was some welcome experimentation but also the return of some old bad habits such as poorly selected samples, inconsistent mixing and unforgivable punchlines. The fact that the album ends so strong only adds to the frustration, knowing that Eminem has such capability makes the worst parts of this album feel like “heavy doodie.” Best Songs: Believe, Chloraseptic, Bad Husband, Framed, Nowhere Fast, Castle, Arose Skip: Untouchable, Remind Me, Heat, Offended Score: 5.3/10 (his worst album by a significant margin)
Dec 13, 2017 Everyone saying bad husband is a ballsy move as if he didnt record Love you more... in wait, 2004! Bad husband retouches the subject matter on that song and its more so addressed to hailie. Not that hard to decipher.
Dec 14, 2017 s--- review. Ur opinion doesnt mean anything. Ur completely wrong though. Its probably top 3 album
Dec 14, 2017 Its like he writes and raps half a song, then rush finishes it later. songs start off well like Believe then they fall off towards the end.
